Muslim Ummah ,

Your Highnesses Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar,

Your Majesties,

Your Highnesses,

Secretary General OIC,

Excellencies,

Distinguished delegates,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I thank His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar for convening this Extraordinary Session of the OIC Summit and for his gracious hospitality. I would like to thank the Secretary General OIC for helping to implement this important initiative. This initiative responds to the challenge that the Muslim Ummah is facing at this crucial juncture. The need for high-level consultations on Iraq was never so urgent. Pakistan recommits to working constructively with our brothers in the OIC to help find a peaceful solution to the Iraq crisis.

For over a decade, the people of Iraq have witnessed the escalation of suffering and poverty in their country - a country which should be amongst the most prosperous and advanced in the Islamic world; a country whose capital was the Islamic epicenter in the golden years of our civilization. The people of this great civilization are faced with the sad prospects of a devastating war.

We are gathered here today to try to prevent this war and to find a peaceful solution to the present crisis. Pakistan, as a member of the Security Council, is particularly concerned that a war would further intensify the suffering of the Iraqi people. A war could threaten the unity and territorial integrity of Iraq. A war could throw this entire region into a spiral of instability that could increase the very dangers that it would seek to avoid. It is the duty of the Islamic countries, to do everything in their power, to prevent these adverse consequences. Pakistan suggests that this Summit meeting should seek the following actions by Iraq and by the UN Security Council to avert the use of force.

First, we must impress upon Iraq to comply fully and faithfully with the resolutions of the UN Security Council to avoid war, death and destruction. UN Security Council resolution 1441 demands "active, immediate and unconditional" cooperation in the process of elimination of Iraq’s WMD capabilities. This is in Iraq’s own supreme interest. It must not provide any justification for the use of force against it. President Saddam Hussain should explore all options to save the people of Iraq from death and destruction on an unprecedented scale.

Pakistan welcomes the increasing cooperation which Iraq has been extending to the UNMOVIC and the IAEA. We trust that Iraq’s cooperation will continue to be forthcoming in order to establish, beyond doubt, the sincerity of the Iraqi Government in the elimination of its weapons of mass destruction. In this context, we hope that Iraq will respond positively to the early completion of the "key disarmament tasks" identified by the UNMOVIC.

Secondly, we urge those who have declared their readiness to use force to disarm Iraq to give peace a chance. Pakistan believes that a peaceful solution to this crisis is still possible. Military timetables should not terminate efforts to exhaust the diplomatic options for a peaceful solution. The cost of delay will be much less than the cost of war.

Thirdly, this Summit meeting must also ask the U.N. Security Council to continue to explore all the possible paths to a peaceful solution. The Council, and particularly its 5 permanent members, are divided on this issue. Pakistan believes that an agreed approach can be evolved. We should identify the measures that could establish beyond doubt the effectiveness and credibility of the U.N. inspections process to be able to convince the international community that the elimination, and verification of the elimination, of Iraq’s WMD capabilities can be achieved peacefully in a relatively short time. The necessary time must be given to the inspectors to complete their work. We could thus avoid a potentially disastrous war.